Hands-on NEC dual-screen Android Cloud Communicator

The CES 2011 conference has been an orgy of Android tablets and not many are standing out besides the Motorola Xoom and the Toshiba prototype we saw. Many of the Android slates we’ve seen seem like “me too” device but NEC is trying to change that by bringing an Android device with two 7-inch screens.

The NEC Android Cloud Communicator LT-W is not being classified as a tablet or an e-reader, as it’s a bit in between. It does feature two 7-inch resistive displays but the company assures us that it will be responsive to the touch. I played around with it a little bit and still miss the capacitive capabilities and the 800 X 600 resolution is nothing to write home about.

So, why the fudge would you want two 7-inch screens on the NEC Cloud Communicator? Well, the company showed us a few apps which could make this useful. As a learning device for students, one screen could be used to watch videos while the other could be used for notes or text.

Because it’s Android 2.1, this thing will have a full Webkit browser and you can even use both screens to browse – you can have each screen be it’s own browser, or have one large extended window where the on-screen keyboard is on one of the screens.

It packs a TI OMAP 1 GHz processor, WiFi and it can also be outfitted with 3G. The NEC Cloud Communicator is supposed to launch with the standard Android Market and the company is also seeking out developers for its own app store which can take advantage of the multiple screens.

The NEC Android Cloud Communicator is probably not going to revolutionize the way we use tablets and the product may never hit the U.S. shores, as it’s slated for a release in Japan in the next few quarters. Check out our photos and we’ll have a video up soon too.

I’m a defender of the MS Courier tablet. Dual Screen tablets could be a very useful thing. This is a natural form factor for e-reading, i thought their e-reading app was quite impressive. The ability to draw, annotate, cut and paste with a stylus is really cool. I hope this NEC Cloud Communicator (cool name btw) comes to the States but it probably won’t ever happen!